Great American Irish Festival

What have I been toting around?

If you see me out and about, you'll notice

I'm always carrying around a big plastic tote.

Whenever I have a few free minutes

the tapestry needle is in my hands

joining hexagon grannies into an afghan.

It is about the size of a baby blanket now.

I might just have it done by the cold weather.

My wisteria in progress

I now know it is totally late in the season

for my wisteria to be blooming, but I don't care!

At least it is finally blooming.

Three little buds have appeared in fact.

Here are a progression of photos of the main bloom

over the past week or so.

Isn't it pretty?

Day One

Day Four

Day Six

Just love this last shot as I've learned something new.
I found the Super Macro function while playing around
with my digital camera and this is first shot I took.

Watch out Spielberg

My 12yo often takes my camera

and I don't know what is on it

until I upload photos to the computer.

Often the set up and taking of photographs

is the end of his creative process.

This time he followed through to make

a stop-motion Lego city movie.

A long-awaited bud

See that? Know what it is?

It is a wisteria bud on one of the plants

that climb our front porch posts. 

After nearly 10 years of waiting,

all the while, trimming back

the proliferation of branches and leaves

that they manage to produce,

we are finally getting flowers!

Or at least one.

Not sure if it was the stretch of

mid-90° temps we had

or that dh cut them back last fall

but I'm doing the happy dance now!

We had decades-old plants

growing on our fence in Alabama

so when we bought this house

I planted two here and waited...

The waiting is now over

 and I will be perfectly happy

if this is the only flower we ever get.

It brings back good memories.

Wee weavers

Thanks to the very kind, and patient, ladies

of the Weavers Guild of Springfield,

we have a new craft we want to take up.

They were set up in a shady pavilion at the Scottish games

we went to last weekend in Massachussetts.

It was a tough go at first but once they got going,
all three boys, even the youngest, were able to
coordinate use of the levers, shuttle and beater.

Like I need another hobby, but I am now on the lookout
for a small table top loom for all of us to use.
Maybe it will help me use up some of my yarn stash.

Back to my crocheting roots

When my sister taught me to crochet

a few years ago she had me making dishcloths.

Simple squares of single crochet that were much more

advanced than the chains I could make as a child.

I've come a long way, baby, teaching myself

a variety of stitches and applications for crochet --

scarves, afghans, brooches, hats, booties and even felted bowls.

A simple mention on Twitter about my current project

led to an order for ten 7"-square cotton dishcloths.
It was nice to get back to my crocheting roots.

These are now on their way to Nebraska (thanks, Vesta!),

while I'm making some more for our kitchen.

Anyone else need some? $2 each!

PS While that might look like beer in the photos,
it is actually dishwashing liquid, lol.

Look at this park!

Our favorite venue for a bagpipe competition

is, by far, Look Park in Florence, MA.

We've been going there for Glasgow Lands Scottish Festival

for years  and I still haven't seen all there is to see.

Here are pictures I took last Saturday.
Photos of bagpipers (and my boys learning to weave)
will have to wait until another day.